Because the USFL came along and tried stealing so many NFL players (and presumptive NFL players), salaries absolutely skyrocketed.
Coaches ranging from Jim Mora to John Fox. Hundreds of players went from the USFL to the NFL, including Reggie White, Steve Young, Jim Kelly. Teams are in Jacksonville, in Tennessee-because of the USFL. The NFL has the two-point conversion, the coach’s challenge-because of the USFL. I mean, the origins of the teams, the players … it’s really fun stuff.īut, in regards to today, I think the football impact alone is amazing. Upstart league coming out of thin air to take on the giant NFL. For a ton of us, it was a huge thing-the merging of huge names and crazy colors and wild stories and drugs and sex and greed and football. Well, first thing is, I think you’re misplacing the role and impact of the USFL for football fans over the age of, oh, 40. Most football fans in 2018 have probably never heard of the USFL beyond maybe, “that thing in the 80s Donald Trump was involved with,” but what makes the story of the USFL important in today’s context? Jeff was good enough to spend some time with us to answer a few questions about the USFL’s impact and discuss its importance in 2018. Jeff Pearlman, a New York Times Best Selling author for his work on “Sweetness: The Enagmatic Life of Walter Payton,” has been feverishly interviewing hundreds of subjects about all things football, compiling a new book on the whacked out story of the United States Football League which he rightfully calls his “dream project.” Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL (slated for release on September 11th, 2018, available for pre-order) details the era of booze bingin’, fist fightin’, non-stop football action that’s become synonymous with the all-too brief period of competitive spring football. However, for the short time we had it, the USFL was as enthralling as it was revolutionary, and the tale of its creation remains one of the craziest stories in sports history.
The league sadly failed after its third full season, mainly due to pressures for direct competition with the NFL that were led by notable businessman and eventual “political-job-haver-for-revenge-reasons-only” Donald Trump. In the end, the USFL collapsed under its own weight. The United States Football League (1983-1985) was a bold undertaking of a separate professional football league that could not only keep football fans satisfied with a pro game in the Spring, but could attract new television deals and exciting new player talent. Soon, there was an upstart football league that came to represent an incorporation of all three of these elements. Tech industry advancements, hostile corporate takeovers, and mountains of sweet sweet cocaine were developing in the hearts, minds, and noses of the general public. In the 1980s, anything and everything was up for grabs.
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